LibriVox Forum

Librivox software for Alexa

Librivox software for Alexa

Posted: January 2nd, 2017, 5:58 pm

by Emory

I thought I would just put an idea out there that not necessarily a book suggestion but relates to Librivox.
Alexa is a new device that reads people books, news, music, etc just on voice command. Many people are getting these for their homes and after having one I suspect they are going to become much more popular.
Currently Alexa does not support reading Librivox books. It does support reading books from Audible tho, so it would seem that Alexa would be capable of reading books from Librivox if the software existed. I'm posting this to put it into the minds of any potential programmers that I think this would be a great idea. It would allow many more people much easier access to the wealth of knowledge on Librivox.
Thanks so much and Happy 2017!

Re: Librivox software for Alexa

Posted: January 2nd, 2017, 6:23 pm

by TriciaG

Sounds like a good idea for some programming whiz out there.

Moving this out of Book Suggestions, since that's for suggesting books to record.

Re: Librivox software for Alexa

Posted: January 2nd, 2017, 6:55 pm

by annise

maybe Amazon has copyrighted the software to keep out the competition ?

Anne

Re: Librivox software for Alexa

Posted: January 2nd, 2017, 8:19 pm

by Darvinia

Because Alexa plays songs, presumably it can play .mp3 files so perhaps if one voiced it as "play" bookfile, instead of "read" it could play a Librivox book file?

Re: Librivox software for Alexa

Posted: January 2nd, 2017, 8:34 pm

by MaryAnnSpiegel

From Amazon:

Ways to Listen to Music & Media on Alexa

You can use Alexa to stream music, podcasts, audiobooks, and more from popular streaming services or from your phone or tablet over Bluetooth. You can also upload your personal music collection from iTunes, Google Play Music, and more to your music library on Amazon and then stream your music through your Alexa device.

Streaming Music and Media Services on Amazon Alexa Devices

Alexa supports a growing number of free and subscription-based streaming services on Amazon devices:

Note: Some music services are not available on other Alexa-enabled products (manufactured by other companies). Check with the product manufacturer for more information.

You can ask Alexa to stream music and media directly from these services through your Alexa device. After you register an Alexa device to your Amazon account, you automatically have access to any music available in your Amazon Music library and any audiobooks available in your Audible library. Amazon Prime members can also enjoy playlists, stations, and over two million free songs.

Upload Your Music

To play your personal music from iTunes, Google Play, and more on your Alexa device, you can use Amazon Music for PC and Mac to upload your collection to My Music on Amazon from your computer. After you upload your music, you can ask Alexa to play your music and control playback with simple voice commands.

You can upload up to 250 songs to My Music for free. To upload up to 250,000 songs, you can switch to an Amazon Music subscription. To learn more, go to Change Your Amazon Music Storage Subscription.

Re: Librivox software for Alexa

Posted: January 8th, 2017, 1:39 pm

by linny

Thank you, MaryAnn! It took a bit to figure out but I finally got it. Well, after a little fight with Alexa until I attempted the command "Alexia, play my playlist [insert title]".

Re: Librivox software for Alexa

Posted: September 14th, 2017, 9:52 am

by ranjitiyer

Hello,

I'm one of the newest members on this forum and excited to be here.

I'm currently building an Amazon Echo Skill that will allow for searching and playing Librivox audio books on the Echo device. This is the Github page for the project https://github.com/ranjitiyer/alexa-audiobooks. Although the last code update on Github shows a few months old, I've been actively working on it in the last couple weeks and will post an code update shortly. I'll also write a design document on the github page for people to peruse and provide feedback. Feel free to use the github page to send me comments or expression of interest for the project.